Memorial service held for Irvine couple killed by car

IRVINE – Ten days after Rick and Sharon Crowell were killed in a traffic accident as they strolled through their Northwood neighborhood, family, friends, neighbors and several Northwood High School varsity football players gathered to mourn and remember the couple.

Nearly 250 people gathered at Irvine Presbyterian Church Friday afternoon for the memorial service.

Rick, 65, and Sharon, 61, were killed on the morning of March 12 when a 17-year-old driver lost control of his vehicle, swerved onto a shrub-lined sidewalk and struck the couple, officials said.

The memorial service's eulogizers rarely alluded to the couple's untimely death and instead spoke about Rick's selfless efforts in helping Northwood and El Segundo high schools, Sharon's warm relationship with her daughter Tami and how much time the couple spent together.

"My mom's my best friend," Tami Crowell said, "and I'm so lucky I got a chance to tell her that. And while I've been speaking with many of her friends during the last week, I learned that she considered me her best friend, too. We did all the things best friends do together.'

Jim Snyder, a longtime friend of the couple who said he met Rick when both were 10 years old, said that instead of thinking about the couple as being dead and gone, he would conjure his own vision of where they were.

"I want to envision (Rick) driving on a cross-country route, Route 66, while wearing some Teva sandals, the '60s shorts with the bowling shirt tucked in," Snyder said, "Sharon wearing a beautiful summer dress, sitting beside him, both of them daydreaming about how blessed they are to have such great children, family and friends."

During the memorial, Rick was honored for his years of volunteer service to Northwood athletics when booster club Vice President Rosalyn Reasor announced that the club had created a $500 scholarship to be named after the Crowells. The scholarship will be awarded annually to a senior athlete who also shows an interest in website design and development.

Before his death, Rick founded the school's athletic booster club, helped with fundraising events, tracked football statistics, wrote football newsletters and ran at least two athletic websites, school officials said.

Jonathan Albright, a senior at Northwood and a tight end on the school's varsity football team, said he and his teammates would miss Rick.

"We all knew who he was," Albright said. "He was part of our team and school in a huge way. (His death) was really sad. He was such a good person. He didn't deserve that. We all feel really bad about it."

The Crowells were buried Tuesday in El Toro Memorial Park in Lake Forest. They are survived by their son Casey and daughter Tami.

Irvine police said there is no new information regarding the collision that killed the Crowells

Police previously said the 17-year-old driver had remained at the scene of the accident, cooperated with investigators and had not been charged or cited.